Ventilator



Jail. 24, 1967 v ow s ET AL VENTILATOR 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 18, 1963 INVENTORS ANDREW n. eowuzs PAUL w WlSE TTORNEY Jan. 24, 19 67 BowLEs ET AL 3,300,122

VENTILATOR Filed April 18, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

INVENTORS ANDREW D. BOWLES BY PAUL W. WISE A TTORNE Y United States Patent 3,300,122 VENTILATOR Andrew D. Bowles, 1301 S. Owylree St., Boise, idaho 83704, and Paul W. Wise, 3917 Kootenai St., Boise, Idaho 83705 Filed Apr. 13, 1963, Se!- No. 273,950 6 Claims. c1. 230 127 ventilator for fallout shelters which will embody the principal components of a bicycle and which can be readily reconverted to a bicycle for use by the occupants when they emerge from a shelter.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of a fallout shelter ventilator that will provide ventilation and a source of electric power.

Still another object of the present invention is the provision of a fallout shelter ventilator which will provide a pleasant form of exercise by the occupants of the shelter.

A further object of the present invention is the provision of a fallout shelter ventilator which will provide a maxim-um of ventilation for the manual power expended.

Yet another object of the present invention is the provision of a ventilator relatively free from vibration and noise.

The invention also contemplates the provision of a ventilator of high efiiciency.

Finally, it is an object of the present invention to provide a ventilator that will be relatively simple and inexpensive to manufacture, easy to assemble and disassemble with rapidity, and rugged and durable in use.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a ventilator according to the present invention, shown in use as a fallout shelter ventilator;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of the ventilator of the present invention with half the casing removed, taken from the opposite side from FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a plan view of a portion of the structure shown inv FIGURE 1, in the vicinity of the ventilator;

FIGURE 4 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 44 of FIGURE 3; and

FIGURE 5 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of FIGURE 3.

Referring now to the drawings in greater detail, there is shown a ventilator according to the present invention, in the environment of a fallout shelter ventilator, comprising a base 1 which may be either a separate base such as a wooden frame or a portion of the floor proper of the fallout shelter or other building in which the ventilator is installed. Fixedly secured to base 1 as by bolts are a rear frame 3 and a spaced front frame 5 which between them support a bicycle frame 7, which is a standard bicycle without the wheels and without the front wheel guard.

Rear frame 3 comprises a plurality of upwardly converging rear standards 9 which together provide a support for the rear of bicycle frame 7, the standards 9 at their upper ends having openings therethrough for the reception of bolts that pass through the rear of the bicycle frame 7 at the junction of the lower rear frame members 11 and the upper rear frame members 13 of frame 7, on the axis normally occupied by the rear wheel of the bicycle. The usual seat 15 is retained in placed at its normal elevation.

Front frame 5 comprisesa cross-piece 17 bolted to base 1 and an upwardly extending U-shaped member 19 secured at its ends to the ends of cross-piece 17. The legs of U-shaped member 19 are bent in as at 21 for lateral consolidation, and a base 23 of arched shape bridges across and interconnects the legs of member 19 adjacent the bends at 21.

The fork at the front of the bicycle frame, which normally supports the front wheel, is left in place, and clamps 25 releasably interengage the legs of member 19 and the lower ends of the bicycle fork adjacent the previous location of the front wheel axle. A clamp 27 interengages the fork and the upper end of the U-shaped member 19 thereby to hold the front end of bicycle frame 7 securely in place and to prevent the handle bars from turning when an operator is seated on seat 15.

To the front of the bicycle frame and its supports, and also mounted fixedly on base 1, is a support 29 on the upper side of which is fixedly mounted a horizontal sleeve 31 that provides a horizontal bearing for a shaft 33 disposed within sleeve 31. The rotary impeller 35 of the ventilator of the present invention is mounted on one end of shaft 33 within the casing 37 of the ventilator.

The construction of the casing is an important feature of the present invention. Casing 37 is comprised of two halves 39 and 41. Casing half 39 is the portion of the casing that is secured to support 29 and that thus supports the ventilator on support 29. Shaft 33 extends axially through half 39 and into the ventilator. The other half 41 of easing 3-7 is secured as by bolts passing through a continuous flange on its marginal edges to a corresponding flange on the marginal edges of half 39, so that the two casing halves are releasably secured together in assembled relationship. An axial inlet 43 opens through half 41, and a peripheral outlet 45 formed between halves 39 and 41 comprises the ventilator casing outlet. An outwardly extending annular flange 47 encompasses inlet 43.

Casing 37 differs from the usual ventilator casings in that it is not of metal but rather is of hardened plastic material. Preferably, the hardened plastic material impregnates glass fibers. The hardened plastic material is preferably a thermosetting resin. Examples of suitable materials are epoxide resins such as the condensation products of lower alkyl polyamines and diglycidal ethers of bisphenols, phenolic resins such as phenol-formaldehyde resins, polyurethanes, hard rubber, polyamaides such as nylon, polyester resins, cellulosic laminates, polyacrylics, halo-carbons such as polytetrafluoroethylene, and the like. Particularly preferred is glass fiber impregnated with hardened thermosetting resin. The casing is preferably formed under heat and pressure by well-known plastic Working techniques.

Impeller 35 is comprised of a pair of plates 49 and 51. Vanes 53 are mounted on and extend between and interconnect plates 49 and 51. Each vane has a crosssectional configuration shown in FIGURE 4, that is, a generally airfoil-shaped trailing surface and a concave leading surface, with the leading and trailing edges of the vanes, that is, the radially innermost and outermost edges, respectively, defining generally a plane that includes or closely approaches, or as shown by the drawing preferably intersects the axis of impeller 35. The radially inner edges 55 of vanes 53 are cut on the bias so that they are inclined away from the axis of the impeller in a direction toward the inlet 43 of the ventilator, that is,

- they diverge from each other moving from right to left in FIGURE 5. Plate 49 and vanes 53 are of metal such as aluminum.

Plate 51 is provided with an axial inlet opening in registry with axial inlet 43 of casing 37, and the opening through plate 51 is surrounded by an annular flange 57 that extends outwardly toward and into close proximity with casing 37 adjacent the base of flange 47. Preferably plate 51 is of hardened plastic material which may be of the same as or different from the materials recited immediately above. Flange 57 is thus preferably molded or cast in plate 51.

A pyramidal deflector 59 extends axially of the other plate 49 toward inlet 43. Deflector 59' is a figure of revolution of a line that is inclined both toward the axis of impeller 35 and toward the planes of revolution of all portions of impeller 35 about that axis. In its preferred embodiment, as shown, that line whose locus about the axis of impeller 35 defines the surface of deflector 59 is concave.

Turning now to the ventilator drive, it will be noted that a relatively small sprocket wheel 61 is mounted on shaft 33 and that a sprocket chain 63 is trained about sprocket wheel 61 and also about a relatively large sprocket wheel 65 mounted for rotation on an axis parallel to that of shaft 33, on what was formerly the axis of the front Wheel of the bicycle. A relatively small sprocket wheel 67 is also mounted in assembly with sprocket wheel 65 for rotation therewith in the forward direction, which is clockwise in FIGURE 1, but for idling movement relative to sprocket wheel 65 when a braking force is applied to sprocket wheel 67 or when sprocket wheel 67 is not positively driven. For this purpose, an over-running clutch mechanism 69 interconnects sprocket wheels 65 and 67. The over-running clutch mechanism is entirely conventional and is shown in greater detail in co pendin-g application Serial No. 199,052, filed May 31, 1962, and in greater detail in Patent Nos. 2,985,269, May 23, 1961; 2,903,107, September 8, 1959; 2,649,942, August 25, 1953; and 2,528,309, October 31, 1950, among many others. Reference is made to the disclosure of the pending application and the foregoing patents to avoid the inclusion of superfluous disclosures in the present application, inasmuch as this mechanism can take any of the well known forms. In any event, sprocket wheels 65 and 67 and clutch mechanism 69 are all mounted coaxially at the lower end of the fork of the bicycle in place of the front wheel.

A sprocket chain 71 interconnects the relatively small sprocket wheel 67 with a relatively large sprocket wheel 73 which is the main sprocket drive wheel that remains on the bicycle at all times. The sprocket wheel 73, in turn, is driven by the usual pedals 75 turned by the operator.

Mounted on the opposite end of shaft 33 from impeller 35 is a relatively large pulley 77 about which is trained a drive belt 79 that also extends about a rela tively small drive pulley 81 on the drive shaft of an electrical generator 83. The rotation of shaft 33 to drive impeller 35 thus also drives generator 83, which is connected by wires (not shown) either to a storage battery (not shown) which may be charged by the generator or to a lighting circuit (not shown) to provide low level illumination, or to other electrical power consumer. The generator may, for example, be a 12-volt unit charging a 6-vo-lt storage battery and may for example produce to watts of useful power.

A number of unique features of the invention should :be distinguished. In the first place, it should be noted that the mass of casing 37 is not substantially greater than the mass of impeller 35. This feature assures that the impeller and its casing will in effect find a common center and that the rotor will not shake the ventilator and cause vibration. In conventional units, in which the casing is much heavier than the impeller, the result is that vibration is inevitably set up. But in a small port- 4 able unit such as the ventilator of the present invention, in which close machining tolerances cannot profitably be held, the feature that the casing is not substantially heavier than the impeller is a distinctive and significant feature enabling the quantity production of low cost units.

Another significant feature to be noted is that plate 51 is of a substantially rigid but resilient hardened plastic material. The use of plastic material in this environment provides a measure of flexibility without permitting undesirable deformation of the impeller, so that the impeller can balance itself and avoid vibration and chattering during rotation. Moreover, the provision of flange 57 on the impeller permits the intake air to move between plates 49 and 51 without substantial loss into the casing, so that air discharge from the tips of vanes 53 is substantially all the intake air. At the same time, the use of plastic for plate 51 and its flange 57 assures against chattering, vibration or excessive wear should the edge of flange 57 contact casing 37. The ventilator can thus again be built with relatively large manufacturing tolerances, inasmuch as the accidental contact between relatively moving parts will not cause damage.

The relationship between the direction of air fiow and flange 57 and deflector 59 should also be noted. As is best seen in FIGURE 5, flange 57 performs not only the function of preventing undesired loss of air from between plates 49, 51 but also the function of channeling the air between itself and deflector 59 on the way to vanes 53. Cutting off the radially inner edges 55 of vanes 53 on the bias will now be seen to produce the result that the air strikes substantially uniformly across the leading edges of the vanes relative to the direction of air flow. The time required for air to pass from the leading to the trailing edge of each vane 53 is thus substantially the same whether the air passes along the edge of the vane next to plate 49 or the edge of the v-ane next to plate 51. As a result, the pressure of the air against the vane tends to be the same adjacent plate 49 as adjacent plate 51, with the result that unbalanced forces on impeller 35 are avoided.

Finally, it should be noted that it is important to drive both the impeller and the generator from the common shaft 33 by means of driving contact between the two things that are driven. Specifically, drive sprocket wheel 61 is between driven impeller 35 and driven generator drive pulley 77 on shaft 33, and this relationship assures that the unbalancing and vibrative tendencies that would otherwise be imparted to the unit by means of driving one or the other of the ventilator and the generator by itself are largely balanced and canceled out. Each of the generator and the ventilator acts as a gyroscope and flywheel for the other when the parts are arranged as shown with the drive of the two units on the common shaft between them.

In use, the bicycle is stripped of its wheels and installed in a ventilator frame as described, with the ventilator and generator drive replacing the front wheel of the bicycle. If desired, a mounted bicycle frame may be kept in a fallout shelter; but it is also possible to wheel the bicycle into the shelter at the time of an alarm. During the sojourn in the shelter, the persons in the shelter can take turns operating the ventilation and generation system of the present invention and at the same time get their exercise. Because of the differential sprocket arrangement of the present invention, the speed of rotation of the impeller will be substantially higher than the speed of rotation of a bicycle wheel during normal use of the bicycle, for example, around 600700 rpm. for the impeller as against perhaps rpm. for a bicycle wheel. Moreover, the weight of the impeller may be around 8-10 pounds as distinguished from about two pounds for a bicycle wheel. This greatly increased weight, taken with the greatly increased speed of rotation, assures that the impeller will have a flywheel action quite different from the action of a bicycle wheel in contact with the ground.

This flywheel action gives rise to the need for the overrunning clutch assembly, for the inertia of the rapidly rotating impeller would make it unsafe to operate the impeller with pedals through a direct gear or sprocket drive. The flywheel action of the impeller also is significant from the standpoint of operation of the generator, for this flywheel action assures that, should the operator stop pedaling for a moment, the flywheel action of the ventilator will nevertheless continue to operate the generator, so that the supply of electrical power will continue unabated.

After a suitable period of time, when it is safe to emerge from the shelter, the bicycle frame can be removed from the ventilator stand and the wheels replaced, whereupon the bicycle is available for transportation.

From a consideration of the foregoing disclosure, therefore, it will be obvious that all of the initially recited objects of the present invention have been achieved.

Although the present invention has been described and illustrated in connection with preferred embodiments and in a preferred environment, it is to be understood that modifications and variations may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention, as those skilled in this art will readily understand. For example, although the invention has been particularly described in connection with a fallout shelter ventilator, and particularly in connection with a bicycle-operated device, it is also clear that many features of the invention are applicable in fields other than fallout shelter ventilation and in connection with ventilators actuated other than by manual power. Moreover, in connection with a bicycle-actuated ventilator, it is to be understood that the drive from the bicycle to the ventilator may take a variety of forms without militating against the utilization of certain features of the invention. Thus, the ventilator could be driven from a rear wheel drive of the bicycle rather than from a front wheel drive, and in addition a variety of other forms of drives could be used. Thus, the inven tion is characterized by a plurality of features of novelty, which are useful alone and in various combinations, and is therefore subject to a wide variety of modifications and variations that are considered to be within the purview and scope of the present invention, as defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A fallout shelter ventilator comprising a bicycle frame having a pedal-driven sprocket wheel, an air pump having a rotary impeller, a shaft on which the impeller is mounted, means on the shaft spaced a substantial distance from the impeller for driving a generator, and means drivingly interconnecting the sprocket wheel and the shaft at a point on the shaft between the impeller and the generator drive means.

2. A ventilator having a rotary impeller, the impeller including a first plate, a plurality of vanes mounted on one side of the plate and extending away from the plate, and a second plate interconnecting the vanes on the side of the vanes opposite the first plate, the second plate being made of glass-fiber reinforced hardened plastic material, each of said vanes having a generally air-foil shaped trailing surface and a concave leading surface, said surfaces terminating at a radially inner-most edge and at a radially outermost edge, said edges defining a plane which intersects the axis of said rotary impeller.

3. A ventilator having a rotary impeller and a casing, the casing having an axial inlet and a peripheral outlet, the impeller comprising a pair of plates and a plurality of vanes extending between and interconnecting the plates, the plate on the inlet side of the impeller having an axial opening therethrough and an annular flange surrounding the opening and extending into proximity with the casing about the inlet, said inlet-side plate and annular flange being made of glass-fiber reinforced hardened plastic material, each of said vanes having a generally air-foil shaped trailing surface and a concave leading surface, said surfaces terminating at a radially innermost edge and at a radially outermost edge, said edges defining a plane which intersects the axis of said rotary impeller.

4. A ventilator having a rotary impeller and a casing, the casing having an axial inlet and a peripheral outlet, the impeller comprising a pair of plates and a plurality of vanes extending between and interconnecting the plates, the plate on the inlet side of the impeller having an axial opening therethrough, said inlet-side plate being made of glass-fiber reinforced hardened plastic material, the plate on the side opposite the inlet side of the impeller having a pyramidal deflector extending therefrom axially toward the inlet, the vanes having radially inner edges that are inclined radially outwardly in a direction toward the inlet, each of said vanes having a generally air-foil shaped trailing surface and a concave leading surface, said surfaces terminating at a radially innermost edge and at a radially outermost edge, said edges defining a plane which intersects the axis of said rotary impeller.

5. A ventilator as defined in claim 3, said casing being made of glass-fiber reinforced hardened plastic material.

6. A ventilator as defined in claim 4, said casing being made of glass-fiber reinforced hardened plastic material.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,075,120 10/1913 Rogers 230-127 1,442,108 l/ 1923 Vincent 290-1 1,895,488 l/l933 Reisinger 230-134 2,120,277 6/1938 Grierson 230-134 2,264,071 11/1941 Dibovsky 230-13445 2,285,266 6/1942 Fullernann 230-13445 2,411,816 11/1946 Teague 230-127 2,439,933 4/1948 Jenkins 230-127 2,486,619 11/1949 Troxler 230-13445 2,801,042 7/1957 Thygeson 230-13445 2,857,094 10/1958 Erwin 230-134 2,902,941 9/1959 Kiba 103-114 2,920,210 1/1960 May 290-1 2,941,477 6/1960 Dalton 103-114 3,021,246 2/ 1962 Hutter et al. 253-77 3,039,397 6/1962 Prasse et al. 103-114 DONLEY J. STOCKING, Primary Examiner.

JOSEPH H. BRANSON, JR., KARL J. ALBRECHT, MARK NEWMAN, SAMUEL LEVINE, Examiners.

R. M. VARGO, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A FALLOUT SHELTER VENTILATOR COMPRISING A BICYLE FRAME HAVING A PEDAL-DRIVEN SPROCKET WHEEL, AN AIR PUMP HAVING A ROTARY IMPELLER, A SHAFT ON WHICH THE IMPELLER IS MOUNTED, MEANS ON THE SHAFT SPACED A SUBSTANTIAL DISTANCE FROM THE IMPELLER FOR DRIVING A GENERATOR, AND MEANS DRIVINGLY INTERCONNECTING THE SPROCKET WHEEL AND THE SHAFT AT A POINT ON THE SHAFT BETWEEN THE IMPELLER AND THE GENERATOR DRIVE MEANS. 